The Tarmax Injector razor arrived today, and already has been loaded with a Chick blade in preparation for tomorrow mornings shave.
This morning's shave was rushed so take my comments with a grain of salt. The Tarmax IN arrived yesterday afternoon. Knowing of its impending arrival, I used my Pal adjustable on Thursday and my Schick adjustable on Friday for comparison and warm-up. New Chick blades all around. SOTD 11.13.21 Soap: Stirling - Autumn Glory Brush: Maggard 28mm SHD 2-Band Razor: Tarmax Injector Blade: Chinese Schick Post-shave: Thayers Original Astringent WH & Nivea Double Action Balm @SlimGem did a great job on the technical description so I won't duplicate his comments, instead going straight to my impressions. I reaaly liked the overall balance of the razor, and the round, knurled handle. This is the only injector I've used with a properly knurled handle. Good stuff. Since I'm rather uncoordinated, loading the blade was a little fiddly due to the precise machining of the cap. Once I got the blade positioned, the rest was a cakewalk. Adjustment is strictly to gap with exposure remaining constant. Since I was rushed this morning, I used its mildest setting. The result was BBS on my cheeks and about 2/3 of my neck. My usual difficult areeas are just below the rear corners of my jaw, and a medium sized Milkbone-shaped area centered horizontally on the apple. Everywhere else was BBS even at Setting #1. The apple area remained at DFS even after three passes. Both rear corner areas went to BBS with a little buffing, but with very different sensations in proccess. I'm right-handed. On the right side, the buffing went smoothly. On the left, the razor felt a bit harsh, regarless of which hand I used. This is down to my unfamiliarity with the razor, and my lack of fine motor skills. I'm sure that on that side I was screwing up on the angle when I reached across with my right hand, and using a little too much pressure when I shaved with my left. I expect an improvement with tomorrow's shave. Tomorrow I'll bump it up to #3 for comparison and I'll have the time to play around with things a bit more. Thanks to @twhite for this pass-around.
SOTD 11.14.21 Soap: Stirling - Autumn Glory Brush: Custom Keyhole Brush with Maggard 24mm SHD 2-Band Razor: Tarmax Injector Blade: Chinese Schick Post-shave: Thayers Original Astringent WH & Nivea Double Action Balm Despite my intentions declared yesterday, this morning I opened the Tarmax up to #5 which gave me a pretty fair bit of gap. Regrettably. You see, I erred in the way I viewed this razor. Because of the blade it was designed for, I treated it as an injector razor even though the overall form of the razor was more like a 3-piece. So I laid the top of the razor basically flat against my cheek and shaved with as shallow an angle as possible. Now for most of my face that was great. But my face is rather fleshy, so much so that I could have been a model for old St. Nick on a typical Christmas card. About 15mm below my eye my cheek butts out. On the downward pass below my right eye, the gap (virtually nil on a Schick injector) teamed up with the sudden change of angle on my face. Divot! Dark pink lather. Not much discomfort though. I've nicked myself before (rarely) with similar sensations and no blood. After that I closed the razor down to the #3 setting as I had originally planned and things went smoothly from then on. Treating the Tarmax as a 3-piece razor, I avoided the harshness I had felt below the left rear corner of my jaw yesterday and wound up with a BBS everywhere. A much steeper angle was called for than what I had used yesterday and started with today. Live and learn. After cleaning up, I used a nail clipper to trim off the small flap of skin from the divot. It's almost imperceptible now. But the thought of using it at #9 is rather scary. I don't think I'll go there. After 2 shaves with the Tarmax, I can appreciate the advantage the superb blade clamping. No blade chatter at all. The range of adjustment is HUGE from rather mild/medium all the way up to "Spishak Mach 20". Opening it up just a little with a sharp blade works like a charm. I'll go for one more shave with it on 3 or 4, then send it on. Is there anyone in line after me, or does it go back to @twhite from here? Either way, I'll need a mailing address.
I'm going to pass, but thanks for remembering me. I am in the middle of 3D printed razor month and have 18 days left.
update on razors 11/15/21 List of Victims 1. @jmudrick DONE 2. @jimjo1031 DONE in transit 3. @IAmTheJody DONE Done SE 4. @BBS DONE Done SE 5. @Dave in KY DONE Done SE 7. @hins2jw0 DONE Done SE 8. @Jayaruh Done SE 9. @SlimGem in transit? Done SE 10. @DaltonGang OUT 6. @Lancre Done Injector heading home.
Third and final shave with the Tarmax Injector (on #4). Smooth BBS with no drama. This razor ranks up there with my favorite injector, the Schick Adjustable. I may be slow, but I get there. Regardless of the blade, it's a three (OK, four) piece razor that likes a steep angle. Once I got that through my head, it was a joy to use. Superb clamping, wide adjustment range, good heft and excellent knurling on the handle. I took a lot longer with my shave this AM, not because of any problems, but just because I was enjoying myself so much. As has been stated, the range of adjustment goes from mild to OMG, all with gap rather than exposure or blade angle. The Tarmax Injector is boxed up and ready to ship back to @twhite.
First time out with Tarmax SE, 7 setting. As expected the required angle felt awkward on my head. Certainly smooth but tricky to catch the stubble on the noggin top. Finished with a MMOC. It took me a couple shaves with the injector version to get used to the angle, i expect same here. No operational issues here at all. Sent from my Pixel 5a using Tapatalk
Tarmax (beard), 1924 (head) / Gem PTFE, MDC. Decided to stick with the Tarmax where it feels most comfortable. Nice shave. Sent from my Pixel 5a using Tapatalk
